Round 4 action on December 14 began with two games that would draw the line between the medal winners and non-winners in the women’s section. Both players from Chinese Taipei came up short: Joanne Missingham lost in just 111 moves to Kim Chaeyoung (Korea), while Cathy Chang narrowly lost to famed veteran Rui Naiwei of China; click here for the game commentary. In the afternoon, Rui Naiwei lost by half a point to Kim Chaeyoung who now goes on to play Yu Zhiying for the gold medal.

Chinese Taipei got off to a good start in the fourth round of the men’s team when Lin Li-Hsiang defeated eighteen-year old Chinese superstar Mi Yuting. Chinese Taipei’s upset hopes were dampened, however, when their leading player Chen Shih-Iuan lost a tightly fought game to China’s leading player Shi Yue on board one, and were then dashed when Tuo Jiaxi convincingly defeated Chang Che-Hao on board three. China now has four straight wins, and their remaining match is against North America. While China was struggling past Chinese Taipei, the North American team lost to the Korean team 0-3, so China’s chances of completing a clean sweep of all their matches when they play North America appear quite good.

Europe had no better luck against Japan than North America had against Korea. The Europeans fought hard, but Yuki Satoshi beat Fan Hui by a comfortable 7.5 points, Ida Atsushi beat Aleksandr Dinershteyn by a 14.5 points, and Seto Taiki beat Ilya Shikshin by resignation. Edited from longer reports on Ranka Online. Click here for the complete report on Round 4. photo: Huiren Yang (left) playing Alexandr Dinershteyn; photo by Ivan Vigano Game records are available on go4go.net; click here for latest SAWMG results.

by James Davies, Ranka OnlineUpdate: The US team beat Europe in the team match on December 13; see report and links below for details.
The morning event on the second day of the SportAccord World Mind Games on December 12 was the second round of the women’s double knockout. The outcome was victory for both Chinese and both Koreans. Choi Jeong needed less than two hours to defeat Natalia Kovaleva by a wide margin. In a somewhat closer game China’s rookie King Yu Zhiying defeated Japan’s Women’s Honinbo Fujisawa Rina. Japan’s Okuda Aya then bowed in resignation to China’s Rui Naiwei after a long ko fight, and Joanne Missingham (right), trailing by a fraction of a stone with only two one-point moves left to play, resigned to Kim Chaeyoung.

In the men’s team matches, Korea’s Kang Dongyoon fell to China’s Tuo Jiaxi on Board 3, followed by Korean youngster Na Hyun’s loss to Mi Yuting of China, clinching the round for China. Park Younghoon saved face for Korea by playing to a narrow but secure victory over China’s top rated Shi Yue.

The Chinese women did equally well in round 3 of the women’s competition in the afternoon, with Yu Zhiying prevailing over Choi Jeong and Rui Naiwei defeating Kim Chaeyoung by the same fractional margin by which Kim had won in the morning. Four games were also played in the losers’ bracket, with good results for Chinese Taipei and mixed results for the rest of the world: Fujisawa Rina defeated Natalia Kovaleva; Joanne Missingham defeated Okuda Aya; Chinese Taipei’s Cathy Chang defeated North America’s Irene Sha; and in an all-Russian game, Svetlana Shikshina defeated Dina Burdakova. The losers of these four games have now been eliminated. Only the two Chinese players remain undefeated, and they will meet each other in round 4.

by James Davies, Ranka Online
The first round of go competition at the 4th SportAccord World Mind Games on December 11 featured an epic encounter between the Korean and Japanese men’s teams, and a historic victory for a Russian woman. The Japan-Korea men’s match was close on all three boards. Yuki Satoshi (right) of Japan defeated Korea’s Park Younghun in a prolonged struggle on board one. In the battle between two young players on board two, Japan’s Ida Atsushi, 20, overplayed his advantage against Na Hyun, 19, by starting an unnecessary ko fight, in the course of which Na was able to revive his dead group and evened the score in the match at 1-1. All now depended on the outcome of the game between Seto Taiki of Japan and Korea’s Kang Dongyoon on board three, and the people following the action on the monitor screens in the adjoining room were held in suspense down to practically the last move, but after a grueling five and a half hours, Kang came up the winner by 4.5 points.

Meanwhile, the Chinese team of Shi Yue, Mi Yuting, and Tuo Jiaxi was dealing unmercifully with the European team of Fan Hui, Aleksandr Dinershteyn, and Ilya Shikshin. European stones died en masse on all three boards. The team from Chinese Taipei also blanked the North American team 3-0, although the game between Chen Shih-Iuan and Jiang Mingjiu on board one was quite close. Russia’s Natalia Kovaleva defeated Chinese Taipei’s Cathy Chang in the women’s individual competition.- adapted from a longer report on Ranka Online; photo by Ivan Vigano

The fourth SportAccord World Mind Games officially opened at an evening ceremony held on December 10 in the banquet hall of the V-Continent Beijing Parkview Wuzhou hotel near the Beijing International Conference Center, which is the competition venue. Thirty go players representing the best of China, Chinese Taipei, Europe, North America, Japan, and Korea will compete with each other December 11-17, rubbing shoulders with some of the world’s best bridge, chess, draughts, and xiangqi players. Counting all five disciplines, there are 150 contestants, drawn from nearly forty countries and territories on six continents. Click here for Ranka Online’s reports on the SAWMG’s Opening ceremony and draw and Players Converge on Beijing for the 4th SportAccord WorldMind Games.

Michael Redmond 9P’s gives a commentary (right) on the Round 1 game between France’s Fan Hui 2P and China’s Shi Yue 9P. “Shi Yue showed powerful fighting, starting with a center-oriented opening that developed into a big fight,” says Redmond. “Two early mistakes on Fan Hui’s part made this fight difficult for him.” Redmond also noted that “In the 1st round for women, Europe played well, got only one win out of it.”

Click on another insightful Redmond commentary, Dinershteyn-MiYuting_annotated.sgf, for an incredible game, in which Black opens with a 5-7 point play in each corner for his 1st four moves!

“I just received a request from the American Go Foundation for a contribution towards their work,” writes Portland Go Chapter Organizer Peter Freedman. “I will again this year donate $100, and urge everyone who reads this to donate something. While about 130 donors are listed on this year’s request, there’s no reason why we cannot double that number this year! There are lots of you out there, and, what go player does not appreciate the AGF’s efforts to bring go to children? Please celebrate the holidays this year with a gift to the AGF…and while you are at it, thank the AGF people for all their efforts to bring go to children and youth.”

The inventor of a physical go board that records moves and enables online play on an actual board is looking for North American partners to market it in the West. According to Sihong Zhou, the board, which lights up to show where your opponent has played, is compatible with some go servers, like Tygem/eWeiqi or Sina. Additional features, Zhou says, include joseki and tesuji training, games against a computer program up to 4d, and a built-in game clock. More details are available, in Chinese, on the RuiQi Tech website. Those interested may email Zhou in Shenzhen China at 1838349552@qq.com.

Anyone who joins, renews or extends their membership with the AGA between now and New Year’s Day will receive two months of free access toBadukTV English, AGA President Andy Okun announced. “We’re grateful to GoGameGuru, David Ormerod and the folks at BadukTV for this generous offer,” Okun said. People who are already BadukTV English subscribers can opt instead for a free go book (US shipping address only, limited choice of titles). AGA life members who request it can take advantage of the two months without doing anything, as it would be tricky to extend their memberships, Okun said. Baduk TV English takes the best of the 24-hour Korean cable channel Baduk TV, with lessons, game commentary and problems analyzed by professionals, and adds English subtitles. There are several hundred hours of material in the library already and new material all the time. After joining or renewing, click here to take advantage of the offer.

The Davis/Sacramento Go Club held its Winter Tournament on December 6th at the Arden-Dimick library in Sacramento. There were 14 players, including three who were playing in their first AGA tournament: Clete Reader, Laura Sparks, and Barry Stiefel. Jeff Horn 1D (left) won the upper division and Tai-An Cha 5k (right) won the lower division, both with 3-1 scores.- Willard Haynes

The 4th SportAccord World Mind Games (SAWMG) will be held in Beijing December 11-17. Contestants will compete for gold, silver, and bronze medals in five areas: go, chess, contract bridge, draughts and xiangqi (Chinese chess). The go competition will follow the same format as last year: 18 men representing China, Chinese Taipei, Europe, Japan, Korea, and North America will compete in a three-man team round-robin; 12 women from the same areas will compete in an individual double knockout; and 16 of these contestants will also compete in a single knockout mixed pair tournament.

The Chinese team this year is comprised of 5 professionals, four 9 dans and a 5 dan. The players participating in this year’s SAWMG are older than last year’s, with only 3 teenagers divided between the Chinese, Japanese, and North American teams, including the granddaughter of Fujisawa Shuko, who is returning for her second SAWMG.

The European and North American teams are fielding mixed pro-amateur teams. The North American team is comprised of three veteran players and one young Canadian woman, Ming Jiu Jiang 7P, Huiren Yang 1P, Daniel Daehyuk Ko 7D and Irene Sha 6D. The European team is primarily Russian, but also includes a professional 2 dan from France.

Coverage of the SAWMG will begin on the 11th, with daily reports and commentaries posted on the RANKA website. Click here for the schedule.- Amy Su, based on reports on Ranka.
Correction: updated to reflect that it’s the granddaughter of Fujisawa Shuko (not the daughter) who will be playing

“Do you have any info on Washington DC or Northern VA Go association?” asks Jonathan Kim. Click on a state here to see a list of AGA chapters and other clubs and meeting places for go players in that state. Official chapters of the American Go Association are indicated by the AGA logo. Click on a chapter or club name to visit their webpage, if available.